Nutrition Bars and Drinks

By MAD21

Nutrition bars and drinks are great for the mid-afternoon or evening snack. I do not recommend doing more than one of these at the same meal. For me, one or the other was usually enough to carry me over to my next meal.

K2O Protein Water Mix. I like the ice tea, lemonade and kiwi-strawberry. If you are not a fan of the Crystal Light mixes (and I am not), I think you will find these to be quite good. I tend to use more water than the recommended amount, but you can try for yourself to see how strong you like the flavor. I also liked the powder mix better than the premixed bottles Kelloggs also sells.

SLIM FAST: Looking at the daily recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals verses sugar and caloric content, I highly recommend Slim Fast (as did my Dr.). If you are going to skip a meal for whatever reason, this is the one have always used, even during pregnancy. Again, I recommend the powder you mix with your own milk, I did not like the premixed cans at all.

NUTRITION BARS: I found a formula some time ago that showed how to determine if any of these are good for you or not. So many of these are just like eating a candy bar, and some with even higher calories than those. It is said that when trying to find one of these to eat, that they shouldn’t be more than around 200 calories, not contain more than 20g of sugar, have about 2-4 grams of fiber and protein per 100 calories, and the fat content should be at or under 25% of total calories. I have tests just about all of them (most have been just awful, like eating sticks with marshmallows!). These are the ones I have found to fit these criteria while tasting really good:

Kashi Go Lean Crunchy-Chocolate Caramel (150 cal, 3g fat, 6g fiber, 9g protein)

Kashi Go Lean Crunchy-Chocolate Peanut (180 cal, 5g fat, 6g fiber, 9g protein)

Snickers Marathon Nutrition Bar-Dark Chocolate Crunch (150 cal, 4.5 g fat, 7g fiber, 11g protein)

Snickers Marathon Bar-Peanut Butter (170 cal, 7g fat, 8g fiber, 18g protein)

Power Bar Harvest Whole Grain-Oatmeal Raisin Cookie (250 cal, 5g fat, 5g fiber, 10g protein)